Tuesday, December 30, 2008

12 days

I can't believe that I have not found time to post about my upcoming big adventure until a measely 12 days before I get on the first of many flights! I fly out of Exmouth on the 11th on the first leg of an epic 55 hour journey through 7 airports. I will land on the 13th (gotta love that International Date Line!) in Buenos Aires, Argentina!

My friend and Cruise Agent Supremo, Amber, has arranged a group on an excellent cruise to Antarctica with a couple of days on either side to get a little taster of a bit of South America. I am going as "our super-duper photographic instructor extraordinaire, expert in all things photography for the group", according to Amber, and I can't wait!

I am heading off on the Star Princess for a 16 night cruise starting in Buenos Aires and ending in Valparaiso then flying back to the US from Santiago. Here's our schedule:11-13 January: I fly from Exmouth, Western Australia to Buenos Aires via Sydney, San Francisco and Miami (super fun!)13 January: spend the day looking around Buenos Aires and maybe catching some sleep!14 January: fly to Igazu Falls in the morning15 January: explore more of the Falls area and fly back to Buenos Aires in the evening16 January: explore Buenos Aires17 January: get on the Star Princess for my first ever cruise!18 January: Montevideo, Uruguay19 - 20 January: at sea21 January: Falkland Islands22 January: at sea23 - 26 January: Antarctic Peninsula27 January: Cape Horn, Chile28 January: Ushuaia, Argentina29 January: Punta Arenas, Chile30 January - 01 February: at sea02 February: Valparaiso to disembark then enjoy a tour of the area on the way to our hotel in Vina del Mar03 February: tour to and around Santiago before my 10pm flight back to San Francisco04 - 06 February: San Francisco with Mom07 - 14 February: midwest with Dad, Gma, Cat etc15 February: get on yet another plane and head back to Exmouth via Sioux Falls, Chicago, Tokyo and Perth!

Amber has all of our tours arranged for our ports of call and I'll add more information on my travels when I can. There is s-l-o-w internet available on the ship and I will be checking emails as I will still be dealing with the dive shop stuff each day. I may not be able to blog very much while I'm on the cruise because of the slower connection, but I will be trying to post a photo or two with at least a short note now and then!

There are still almost two weeks to go, so there will be plenty more Exmouth based blog posts to come before I head off!